Whether to compress and EQ everything is a question I get asked a lot! Here are some guidelines...

Compression is a tool that allows you to control the dynamic range of a signal, e.g. how much the level goes up and down. The original reason for doing this was when recording to make sure the signal didn't get too loud and cause overloads. When mixing it can help make a signal stand out more, as compressing the signal so that its loud peaks are reduced means that the whole signal can then be safely turned up, to make it louder. Flattening the signal in large amounts can make a signal a lot fatter but you run the risk of losing some punchiness as the transients become less defined, e.g. the loud bursts at the start of sounds don't have as much impact as they did. However, there are ways of restoring this such as mixing a little of the uncompressed signal back in and so on.

Compression can also be used to add character to a signal, as some compressors have their own distinctive sound, or to fuse parts together, so you don't always have to apply it heavily. Some light compression can sometimes be nice on your final mix, for example, setting a low threshold but with a low ratio, so the gain is only being adjusted slightly, but is being applied to the whole signal.

Whether you apply compression to a track or not is normally dependent on its level. Some sounds from instruments or samples may be sufficiently loud enough already, or have already been compressed, in which case there's no real point. You can typically tell this by looking at the track meter or at the signal's waveform - if it doesn't go up and down much then I shouldn't bother compressing, unless you want to apply sidechain compression that is, which actually increases the dynamic range in a flat signal to give it more energy, so works the other way! (this is covered at the start of the advanced course.) However, on a drum sampler track that you're creating a beat with, you should definitely compress it, which will help to make your beat fatter and bring all the drum samples together.

EQ is an equally important tool, as shaping the frequencies of your tracks is essential to make sure they fit together well and the mix doesn't become muddy or crowded. I tend to EQ pretty much all my tracks in most mixes, unless it changes the character of a track in a detrimental way. Most tracks without EQ will contain too many frequencies, so will need filtering or EQing (if you use a filter then there's less you can do - simply rolling off the top or bottom or passing/rejecting a single band, but sometimes this is all it needs). Once you start EQing your tracks, you realize that without the EQ, everything sounds flat and certain frequency areas, especially those that the ear is most sensitive to (1-5kHz or so) can become messy.

I always stress that it's just as important to attenuate (cut) than boost, if not more so. However, it's also a good idea to boost the bottom and top end on some tracks, such as bass and drums, so they sound fatter (more bass) and clearer (more treble). As such, I often filter off or remove the bass on a lot of tracks, to ensure there's room for the bass and kick drum to punch through, making sure they don't become too thin in the process.

Lead parts you can try EQing more imaginatively to add some different resonances perhaps, whilst making sure there are no clashes with other parts. You normally want a sound to have its own uniqueness and character, to make it well defined. Corrective EQ can also be applied though, helping to reduce middle frequencies if a track is too honky, or boost them if it needs more presence, or lessen any unwanted resonances.... etc.

I'm still an amature as far as I'm concerned,but when I write my songs I use compression to reduce my peaks in my waveform, a few times depending on how many tracks I have to mix.And with that You can see how much it controls the signal movement! I couldn't agree more with this post! This is the kind of information I learn from!!

Been hotly debating this issue with myself. It's hard enough to write songs, mix them and then attempt to master after the dust has settled .... but I have added the whole Dynamic Range / Loudness War issue to the mix. The War is particularly hot in the rock n' roll world which is a more tradition bound than what I see happening in techno. In the world of heavy metal there's quite a bit of splitting the difference .. where guys send drums/guitar/bass to return tracks and compress the snot out of 'em while simultaneously sending through an uncompressed signal and then, I guess, using ones ears to blend the two.

On the mastering end ... I'm wary of compression .... It's hard enough avoiding sounding like squashed mud with all the distorted guitars and whatnot. For now I'm focusing on mixing the best i can with modest EQing .

In the end, in my newbie state, I'm just avoiding the brickwall look to these songs when the wav form gets uploaded to soundcloud/or whatever .. I want the listener to crank up the volume of their machine and avoid any semblance of digital clipping. I don't trust my ears as they've been conditioned by squashed music for years and years and I've chosen sides in the Loudness War against the mega-compressed maniacs. (again none of this criticism applies to techno)

I was going to start a topic like this as I wrote a couple of article so to add to your explanations of when to use eq and compression these may assist with how at a basic level..... I may as well pop it in here if thats cool ...

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum